A Conversation for The French Pyrenees

Pyrenees, my great passion

Post 1

Alfredo



Today - april 2004 - I gave away my tent and backpack I used while walking half the Pyrenees in 1995.

In 1993 I walked a small part of the Spanish Pyrenees above Barcelona and in 1995 I walked from the West coast (Hendaye) until the east border of national Parc = Loudenvielle.

Within a few years, the Pyrenees had become my greatest passion.
But I had not returned for reasons of personal fitness.

Today, my former masseur received my backpack.
My former love got my tent.
A landmark in my life.


An old Catalan song about the Pyrenees comes into my mind;



P Y R I N E O S .

"Ahora si que voy a dar,
un golde mas qua solida.
prque parece que va
el baile con alegria.

En los montes Pyrineos
me tengo de ir a vivir.
que dicen que alli se gana
la gloria a antes de morir.

Despedida y no partida
tuve anoche con mi amante.
despedida y no partida
porque el amor no se parte.



Translated in English;


p y r e n e e s .


Today I want to celebrate
a bit more than usual.
Since it seems the dance
is in full swing.

In the Pyrenees mountains
I ought to go and live.
For they say that there you get
to paradise before dying.

A goodby and not a farewell
did I bid from my lover last night.
A goodby and not a farewell
for love cannot be broken off".



Indeed,"for love cannot be broken off".
And for now I'm listening to my favourite composer, Henry Purcell.

The Tempest;

Amphitrite; "Halcyon days, now wars are ending. You shall find
wherever you sail. Tritons all the while attending,
with a kind and gentle gale".

Neptune; "See, see, the heavens smile, with clouds no more over-
cast. In this now happy Isle are all your sorrows past".

Amphitrite and Neptune; "No stars again shall hurt you from above, but all your
days shall pass in peace and love".

Chorus; "No stars again shall hurt you from above, but all your
days shall pass in peace and love".




I wonder what my coming journey is in life.


Greetings from Amsterdam


Pyrenees, my great passion

Post 2

Alfredo


Website Pyrenees National Parc.

http://www.parc-pyrenees.com/index_english.htm


Pyrenees, my great passion

Post 3

Alfredo



Quote;

The major European natural province farthest to the south is also the most recently formed. In mid-Tertiary time, about 40 million years ago (see Oligocene Epoch), the Afro-Arabian plate collided with the Eurasian one, triggering the Alpine Orogeny (see Plate Tectonics). Compressional forces generated by the collision thrust upward great thicknesses of Mesozoic sediment, creating ranges such as the Pyrenees, Alps, Apennines, Carpathians, and Caucasus, which are not only the highest mountains of Europe but also the most steep sided. The frequent occurrence of earthquakes in this region indicates that changes are still taking place.


Pyrenees, my great passion

Post 4

Alfredo


Well, I'm still in my mind walking there.

Found a great site; at the left side you can find many mountainlakes.

The beauty of calm, i"d call it.

http://www.lacsdespyrenees.com/vallee-Aspe.html


Pyrenees, my great passion

Post 5

borderdrifter

Hi,
I would like to confirm all the good points which have been said about the Pyrenees and the surrounding areas. The countryside is truly beautiful.
I took my family on the Yellow train and it is a wonderful day out. The views are spectacular and everyone enjoyed it.
We have posted a few web pages about the practicalities of using the yellow train

http://www.holiday-cottage-carcassonne.com/yellow_train/yellow_train_practicalities.htm

and hope that this is of use to anyone planning a trip.
Our trip was in 2004.


Pyrenees, my great passion

Post 6

Alfredo

Thánks for the URL !

Great to be there in "a virtual trip by train".


Pyrenees, my great passion

Post 7

Alfredo


Yesterday I watched the Tour de France while they were around and in The "Parc National des Pyrenees". It's about the middle of the whole Pyrenees.
I have been walking there around 1995 and it was a great passion.

This time I prepared myself with books, pictures, guides, to follow the exact course in the Tour and my won GR10 Grand Randonnee.

I had two reasons to do all this.
First they were in exact the same area where I had been walking in 19995.(Parc National)
Second; the Dutch TV reporter knew by his own experience in the Pyrenees all kinds of outdoor sports and that made my image of the Pyrenees fresh, new and more open.
Before it was more like the lonely Alfredo with his great effort to walk in these lonely mountains.
Now, suddenly, the image got more ingredients and became more colorful.
The TV reporter who had more outdoor experience (mountain bike and river canoe travel) than I had, so the chapter of the Pyrenees 95 got reopened; all by itself.

It was fantastic; all kind of words came up in me, and although I did not recognize a lot, I could conclude I had been there. (Sometimes one walks in deep fog and you just don't see anything at all).

Sometimes I could recognize mountains and villages.
It was beautiful weather.
There were from 12.00 until 18.00 many, many pictures from the Helicopter and that "bird eyes view" made it possible to me to really enjoy it, knowing that it also was LIVE!

That bird eyes view was fantastic and I could also see how some mountains were at the other side. Sometimes the HG 10 guide warned walkers not to take "the other side" and yesterday I could see why.

I really, really enjoyed and put it all at Video. It became so close and realistic that I - after many years - took my own photo albums to look in it and made it more colorful with pictures from tourist info.

I longed to do so and permitted myself to do so, because this long and fantastic day was my new real, personal experience, LIVE, about
the Pyrenees.

A new chapter was born and that feels fine.
Yes, I'd been there and really, rewally did enjoy it.


July 2007


Pyrenees, my great passion

Post 8

Gnomon - time to move on

smiley - cool


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